Being as busy as I am, I have to be good with time. With working two jobs, going to school full time, being the co-president of a club and a leader in another club at school, volunteering for Girl’s on The Run and training for another half marathon, one may ask how can I fit all this into one day?? Time management. If I did not have a good sense of time, I would not be able to give my time to clubs, volunteering, homework, work and still find time for a social life. Here are my best tips and tricks to maintaining my busy and sometimes hectic life:
1) Plan Ahead
This one is HUGE! If you were to ask me what my schedule is like, what I have due or when I work for the next couple weeks, I would be able to rattle everything off no problem. I have my schedule memorized and I know what my month, week or day looks like going into it. I do this with the handy dandy help of my planner. This thing is my life and I write down every important deadline, date or reminder I need in it.
2) Wake up early!!
I hate the excuse people give when “there just isn’t enough time in the day.” While I am so guilty of using this term in the past, I completely disagree with that statement. I think if you wake up early on a consistent basis you are able to fit more into your day than you think. When I wake up early, I dedicate this time for my self-care time by training for my half marathon coming up or just weightlifting in the gym. When people say they have no room to fit in time to take care of their body, I find that completely false. Just wake up an hour earlier!
3) Make lists and PRIORITIZE
This one is really important as well. Especially for those who may work or have homework in multiple classes. Taking time to write a list, check off the items that are finished all while prioritizing the items that need to be done first. As being a person that is very task oriented, I find this one very satisfying as once I finish one of the items on my list, I cross it off and move onto the next item.
4) Being Organized
If I was not organized, I would not be able to do half the stuff I do nor give my time volunteering or being a part of student lead organizations. Life is so much easier when you are organized and know what your schedule is. Plus, who likes clutter? So why live a cluttered life. Trust me, it is so much easier to stay on top of things when you are organized.
5) Learn to say NO and delegate – it is okay to ask for help
This is a work in progress for me. I found myself stretching myself too thin some days last semester when I had way too much going on, I thought my head was going to fall off. When people would ask me if I could squeeze something into my day, I would squeeze it in when I may have had other things as a higher priority that day. And since I am a co-president in one of my clubs, I learned that I have executives under me for a REASON. I started to draw myself back a little bit and delegate out tasks to whom they would belong to while giving my full attention to the president position rather than feeling like I had to do everyone else’s job. I felt like as a leader I needed to do everything and everything I did had to be perfect. I hated asking for help and looking like I could not do it all. But with doing it all, not only was I unable to give it my full attention but it would be very half done as well. Like I said, this one is still a work in progress for me, but I am proud of how far I have come with it.
These are my personal top five time management skills that I have learned and practice every day. Now these may all look different for everyone and everybody has a different way they organize their days, weeks and months. These just are what works best for me!! Hopefully you were able to learn a little something to apply to your everyday life.